Stars and Black
by arcanioque
Summary: One fine summer day, Tidus goes up to Gippal and punches him in the face. [GEN oneshot, rippal subtext]


stars and black 

_and again, those odd musings about pairing odd two people up in a fic for gen purposeless purposes strike the authoress! oh , joy, joy. _

_not exactly your character-study-kind-of fic, though. i wasn't in the mood for writing those analytical stuff..more of a lighthearted, heartwarming material, hopefully. XD _

_and yes, i do not play ffx-2 MUCH. faulty characterizations and non-canonizations are thereby my fault, so my sincerest apologies in advance. you've been warned anyway, so please don't flame on said points. that's why this is a fanfic in the first place, right? XD_

_It happens on a fine summer day when Tidus goes up to Gippal and punches him in the face. The reason? Blame Rikku. XD GEN oneshot, rippal subtext_

_-_

The next thing Gippal sees is black, and then red.

His nose bleeds.

"What the _fuck _was that for, you blitzball freak!?" He yells, and holds his nose.

Tidus adjusts the ball soaked with chlorine under one arm, and easily lifts a hand to cheerily wipe the drops of perspiration against his bronze skin. It's a fine day for a game of blitzball. He really shouldn't be bothering with this really, but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. And so he's come to punch Gippal in the face.

Easier said than done.

Whoa. Tidus blinks. He has NO idea Gippal has the reaction time of a few nanoseconds, because instantly, Tidus sees _stars _and he's on his back, with Gippal's boots in his stomach a while ago, and there - there's still the mark where his boots leave mud and footprints.

"What did you call me?" Tidus rubs his sore stomach, gets on both feet, and his eyes squint. Yes, insult Tidus, sure. Insult Blitzball, and you're really, really asking for it. Whatever. Tidus loves a fight or two sometimes now that things have settled down and things are getting way too boring.

"Blitzball _freak._"

And no one ever, ever insults Blitzball.

"Machina moron!" And Tidus swings an uppercut into Gippal's jaws.

Three seconds later, they're both on the floor, knocked out, and deflated in the stomach, jaw, shoulder and sore all over.

"Wait," Gippal pants, "I don't believe this. I barely even know you, and you come up to me one fine summer day and swing a punch into my face? What's your problem, anyway?"

Tidus wipes the remnants of his blood (and broken skin) off his face. Now that one's easy to answer.

"You made Rikku cry."

Gippal freezes uncharacteristically, then plants his hands on his hips, "And what's that got to do with you, shark boy?"

Tidus refrains from arching his eyebrow too far until it disappears behind his hair, which is something that doesn't happen often. Shark boy? Now _that's _a new one.

"Because," Tidus answers as if it's the most simple thing in the world, "you. made. her. cry." He repeats for emphasis.

Gippal resists the urge to box Tidus in the ears. "So? Don't tell me you _like _her!" He narrows his eyes as he throws the insult. "You're two-timing, Tidus?"

"No, no!" Tidus waves his hands frantically. "It's nothing like that, Gippal--" He then blinks and scratches his head, "Wait, what am I doing?"

Recovering, he balances himself on one leg, and tosses the Blitzball up high in the sky before catching it with the other.

Gippal rolls his eyes. What a show-off.

"See, Gippal," then Tidus can't believe he's doing something like that, but _yes, _he's hooking an arm around the machina moron's neck, and annoying him to a crippling extent - that, he can tell, "if you like Rikku this much," and he uses his fingers to signal the extent of 'this much', "why don't you tell her?"

Gippal resorts to crossing his arms. Because, really, he doesn't know what else he can do to avoid the squirmings in his insides. He feels...he feels like he's been interrogated by, by some big brother of a little sister!

"Another overprotective brother, huh?" Gippal sighs.

"You've got that right!" Tidus flashes at thumbs-up. "Call me, uh," he pauses to think, before his eyes sparkles and his face lights up, "Rikku's big brother figure!"

"...Right..." Gippal responds unenthusiastically. Tidus still has his hand around his neck. "So, Rikku's, uh, big bro?"

"Reporting, Captain Machina Moron." Tidus salutes, and finally, at long last, releases his grip from Gippal's neck.

"...Did you just call me a machina moron, shark boy?"

"_Machina moron_."

Gippal always does have fast reaction time, anyway.

So it comes to Tidus as no surprise when the next thing the latter sees is black, then stars.

**owari **


End file.
